which was join'd together with fit Joints near the Maft, and feeing a great quantity of Water every where, Noah thought he beheld Death in every place, and was afraid, and his Heart palpitated much: Then the Air being a little mov'd, (for it had for many days water'd the whole Earth) and then dividing, the great fiery Globe of Heaven appear'd, weary, of a pale bloody colour. Noah had fcarce Courage; and then he fent A Raven. a black Bird abroad, that he might know whether the Earth appear'd in its firmness; but she having fled about every where, return'd: Nor did the Water cease, but fill'd all places : But he refting fome Days, fent again the black Dove, that he might know whether the Deluge ceafed; but he flying up and down, fled away: She defcended on the Earth, and having a little refted her Body on the wet Earth, after that return'd to Noah, bringing a Branch of an Olive-tree, a great fign of good News: Then all took Courage and rejoic'd, because they hop'd to see the Earth. And then presently he fent forth another black winged Bird, and the confiding in her Wings, fled freely, and remain'd in the Earth: Then Noah knew that the Earth was very near. But when the divine Building had swam here and there upon the violent fwelling Waves of the Sea, it came and stuck faft on a fmall Bank.

There is in the Continents of Black Phrygia a very high and great Mountain, call'd Ararat, because Mankind fhould be fav'd upon it

from

from the Deluge; on this their great Defire was accomplish'd, the Ark rested on the high Head of this Hill, when the Waters ceafed. From this Hill the Channels of the great River Marsyas arise.

Then again the Voice of the Great God cry'd out from Heaven in fuch Words: 0 Noah! preferv'd from Danger, faithful and just, come forth boldly, with thy Wife, Sons, and three Daughters, and fill the whole Earth; encreafe and multiply, delivering my juft Laws to one-another, and to all fucceeding Generations, till all Mankind come to the Day of Fudgment, far there fhall be a Judgment upon all Men. So the Divine Voice spoke.

Noah confiding in God, went out upon the Earth as from his Chamber, and his Sens with him, and his Wife, and their Wives, and the creeping Creatures, and Birds, and all the Kinds of four-footed and wild Beasts, and all together went out of the wooden Houfe into one place; and Noah, the eighth Perfon, the most Juft of all Men, went out, having continued in the Waters, by the counfel of the Great God, twice twenty, and one Day more.

4

Genera

Hence 'rofe a new Generation of Men, the ThegoldenAge after first Golden Age, which is call'd the fixth, the Flood and the best fince Mankind was made: It is the Sixth call'd the Heavenly, becaufe God took parti- tion. cular care of the first Stock of the fixth Generation, the great Joy that I had when 'Lefcap'd the great Deftruction, when my 'Husband with me, and his Brothers, and

< Fa

A farther

of the Gol

'Father, and Mother, and their Daughtersin-law, fuffer'd much by being long tofs'd ८ by the Flood!

Note, That this Account of the Deluge differs in fome Circumftances from that in Genefis; for the Sibyl fays Noah ftaid in the Ark 41 Days, but Mofes, a Year. Thence I may infer, that this Account of the Deluge was neither writ by a Few nor a ChriStian; therefore this Account was the Gentiles Tradition, and from their Eastern Hiftories in Chaldæa, or Afia minor: for all Nations believ'd the Flood and Noah's Ark, but they believ'd it refted in Phrygia; and they call'd all the Mountains from Arme nia to Tanais, Ararat. This Hiftory of the Flood is call'd Noah dod, and the Gentiles might proba bly fing it, as they us'd to do Homer's Verses; and by fuch Songs they us'd to preferve the memory of famous Transactions, as Mofes did by his Song. The Sibyl here declares herself to be one of Noah's Daughters-in-law, by a Poetical Fiction to repres fent the Joy of the Women after their escape from the Flood.

Note, That Jofephus makes feven Generations before the Flood.

Now I will praise that Age, in which there defcription fhall be great fertility in Flowers and Fruits, den Age. and Saturn fhall reign, and divide his Kingdom. For three magnanimous Kings, righteous Men, fhall divide their Kingdoms into three parts, and reign a long time, and deliver just Laws to Men who labour'd much, and industriously purfu'd commendable Works; and then the Earth fhall of itself produce its Fruits joyfully.

A

A Generation shall shoot forth many Branches one upon another, and the Parents shall continue young a long time, without malignant Fevers, which have hot and cold Paroxyfms; they fhall die as it were in a Sleep, and they shall go into the Houses of Hades, where Acheron is, and there they shall be honour'd, because they are the Generation of the Blessed: And they are happy Men to whom the God of Sabaoth gives a good Understanding, and to whom he communicates his Counfels; thefe are the Happy, and shall be fo when they are dead.

the Titans

Then fhall arife the fecond Generation of The Gene. terreftrial Men, great and horrid, the Titans, ration of having the fame Figure, Greatnefs, Nature, in the feSpecies, and the fame Language which God venth Age. before gave to the firft Generation of Men: but these will be of a very proud Temper, and undertake defperate Projects for the procu ring their own Deftruction, by fighting against Heaven; and then the great Ocean This is Owill make an Inundation thro' the fury of the gees his Waves; but the great God of Sabaoth being which was angry, fhall forbid and restrain it, that no an InundaDeluge fhould come again on wicked Men. But when God by his Anger fhall cause the infinite Tumor of the Water, and its Inundations upon divers places to cease, and Limits are set to the deep Seas by Ports and rough Shores, the great God, who caufes Thunder, fhall fet Bounds to the Sea in every place.

Note,

Flood,

tion of the

Sea.

Note, That this Sibyl having finish'd the Hiftory of the Flood, immediately subjoins the Hiftory of our Saviour; but the Hiftory of the Titans and Monarchies is fupply'd in the Third Book, which feems to be abruptly broken off from this place, where it mentions Babel.

Note, In this Description after the Flood there's no mention of the Rainbow, nor the Permiffion of eating Flesh, nor Noah's Sacrifice; from whence I infer, that this Tradition was not from Sem's PofteSee Gene- rity, but Faphet's. Abraham had his Traditions fis. from Sem, for all his Laws, Statutes, and Precepts, Religious and Civil. And by these Oracles it appears, that the fame were convey'd by all the Sons of Noah to their Pofterity; witness this, Juftitiam tradent natis natorum: Therefore I conclude, this Tradition of the Flood and Ark, and a fecond Inundation on the Titans, was preferv'd in the Hiftories of Japhet's Pofterity.

Chrift's

Name.

- IO

I1

.. Then the Son of the Great God fhall come Birth and amongst Men, being cloath'd with Flesh, being like mortal Men on the Earth; his Name fhall have four Vowels and two Confonants 8 which are double, and I will declare and in-200 terpret what Number may be made by the - 70 Numeral Letters in that Name: First, there -400 are 8 Monads or Units, as many Tens, and Eight hundred; in all 888.

σ

200

888.

Note, That if 888 be deducted from the vulgar Year 3947, when Chrift was born, there will remain 3059, about which time the Sibyls might write; and then was the time of the Jewish Prophets under the Affyrian Monarchy. And by this computation Chrift was to come after 888 Years.

Thus Maho